I met Gene at Mt. Victory High School when I was 14.  He was visiting 
his grandparents and came to school with his uncle Joe and Aunt Bernice 
Wright. His school at Harlan, KY was dismissed for KEA (Kentucky 
Education Association). He wrote to me when he got back home and we 
continued writing letters for about a year. Gene came to see me several 
times during that time. I found him to be a very special boy and friend.

At the end of his Junior HS year 1943, Gene decided to volunteer for 
the Army. And we had decided that we were in love. He asked me to wait 
for him to return from the war. I have a box of his letters he wrote to 
me.

Gene came home from the war, (WWII) in January 1946 just before his 
21st birthday and enrolled in school at Harlan, Ky to finish his senior 
year. We had a correspondence courtship. He was a really good writer! 
He came to Mt. Victory to see me several times and gave me an 
engagement ring on Valentine's Day. We talked about a June wedding.

His school at Harlan dismissed for KEA  so he wanted us to get married then. I 
agreed.  So with little time to make plans, I remade a jacket dress 
into a suit, bought a blouse, hat, shoes etc.for my wedding attire. 
Gene didn't have a dress suit, so we borrowed one that my brother 
Vernon had left at home.

Daddy arranged with Rev. Charles Hogg, a Methodist minister to do our 
wedding service.  Rev. Hogg was also an auto mechanic, so the wedding 
was set for Friday evening, which was Good Friday. Gene and I were 
married in a small chapel at the Somerset Methodist Church.

My Daddy drove us and on the way we picked up Gene's Aunt Bernice. Just 
as we arrived in Somerset, we met Dan and Mildred on their way home 
from U of K.  That was the wedding party.

Dan and Mildred treated us to dinner

Gene passed away September 27th, 2009.  We were married for 63 years 
April 12, 2009.  Today would have been our 65th Anniversary. I was 
blessed to have married such a devoted man!  And to be the mother of 
his three wonderful children.

Grace and Peace Abide with You,
Emily